h. h. hess and my memoranda

7/25/2019 H. H. Hess and My Memoranda

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H. H. Hess and My Memoranda

On August 25, 1972, three years elapsed since the death of Professor Harry Hammond Hess. He

died of a heart attack hile presiding o!er a meeting "con!ened at #oods Hole, $assachusetts%of the &pace &cience 'oard of the (ational Academy of &ciences. )he 'oard had the task of

o!erseeing the acti!ities of the (ational Aeronautics and &pace Administration, ith its multi*

+illion dollar spending. At the #oods Hole meeting Hess had intended to discuss the role ofthermoluminescence ")% tests in the lunar programs, an issue - had discussed ith him.

#hen - mo!ed from $anhattan to Princeton in the early summer of 1952, - +ecame steeped in

li+rary ork forEarth in Upheaval,and the li+rary of uyot Hall "Princeton/s geology

department% as a place - fre0uented. Already knon for my Worlds in Collisionand thediscussion it pro!oked, - caused some curiosity among the numerous faculty mem+ers of the

department. - do not remem+er my first contact ith Hess, +ut from our first meeting something

in +oth of us attracted each other.

Hess as the chairman of the department. Once hen - mentioned the ening $einessu+marine e3pedition for gra!itational measurements in the 4ari++ean in the 196/s, during

hich, parado3ically, a positi!e anomaly as regularly detected and the greater it as the deeper

as the sea, or the less mass there as, Hess surprised me +y telling that he participated in thate3pedition.

Another highlight of his career took place during #orld #ar --. -n command of a na!al !essel in

the Pacific ith certain e3ploratory assignments, he utilied the opportunity to e3plore the

+ottom of the ocean in a certain area. nder the ater he disco!ered flat*topped mountains,

hich he named 8guyots, honoring the late Princeton professor of geology, Arnold Henry uyot"1:67*:;%,

'y the end of the ar, Hess as retired from acti!e duty ith the rank of a rear admiral. -n the

uni!ersity he taught mineralogy and crystallography, +ut marine geology remained his fa!oredsu+ oren ?iseley/s

The Firmament of Time.Hess se!eral times during those years ga!e me the opportunity toaddress the faculty and graduate students of his department. &ince from 195 "hen - spoke

+efore the raduate 4ollege @orum of Princeton ni!ersity% to 19 practically no college oruni!ersity or scientific society e3tended to me an in!itation to speak, those appearances at the+ehest of Hess meant much to me.

He ga!e me his pu+lished paper on guyots. pon reading it - rote a rather merciless criticism of

his idea that the accumulation of sediment caused the su+mergence of the sea +ottom and ith it

the su+mergence of the flat*topped guyots. -n his response he shoed graciousness.


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'y mid*195 preparations for the -nternational eophysical Bear ere gaining momentum. On

Cecem+er 5, 195, - ga!e to Hess a memo descri+ing, in +re!ity, se!eral pro only compounds

containing the radical 4H "polymeried% could lend to the 15*mile thick cloud the same

properties at the *25J @ temperature at the top of the cloud and at the K266J @ temperature at the+ottom of the cloud separated +y ;5 kilometers of loer atmosphere from the silingly hot

ground surface of the planet.


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- rote an article, 8enus = A Bouthful Planet, and sent it to the editor of Science. - found it

+ack in my mail+o3 less than ;: hours later, returned unread.

- discussed the case ith Hess, and he decided to offer it for pu+lication in the AmericanPhilosophical &ocietyProceedins.As a mem+er of the society he as entitled to sponsor a

paper +y a nonmem+er. )he paper as su+mitted, and its fate as related +y Yale Scientific!aa"ine "April, 197, p. :%> 8)he paper as discussed at the editorial +oard meeting of the

&ociety and caused prolonged and emotional deli+erations, ith the 'oard split +eteen thosefa!oring the pu+lication and those opposed to it. @or se!eral months a decision could not +e

reached ... the decision as made, in order to safeguard the !ery e3istence of the 'oard, to

delegate the decision on the article to three mem+ers of the society, not mem+ers of the 'oard.)heir names ere not disclosed +ut on Danuary 26, 19;, Cr. eorge #. 4orner, ?3ecuti!e

Officer of the &ociety and the editor of theProceedins,informed Cr. Hess that the decision had

+een made to re


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A+out that time de raia pu+lished a special issue of the%merican #ehavioral Scientistdealing,

ith the reception of my ork. #hen he came to see me, Hess came too.

Once or tice - asked Hess to organie a panel of mem+ers of !arious faculties of Princetonni!ersity that ould in!estigate hat as right and hat as rong in my theory and hat as

proper or improper in the attitude of my critics. 'efore he decided hether to follo this course"perhaps, e3pecting a negati!e attitude +y faculty mem+ers, he tarried%, an initiati!e came from

Cr. @ranklin $urphy, at that time chancellor of the ni!ersity of 4alifornia at os Angeles. Heasked 4A/s geophysicist, Professor ouis &lichter, to organie a committee for the same kind

of in0uiry - had proposed to Hess. $urphy/s initiati!e, hoe!er, foundered and the story needs

to +e told separately. -t em+raced the period from Danuary to (o!em+er, 19;.

-n Danuary, 195, Hess took the initiati!e to organie the 4osmos and 4hronos &tudy and

Ciscussion roup, and he placed in the 'ulletin of the ni!ersity an announcement of the first

open discussion. Originally e planned a de+ate on e!olution +ased on the uniformitarian

principle !s. e!olution +ased mainly on cataclysmic e!ents. $y opponent as to ha!e +een

Princeton professor of +iology, 4olin Pittendrigh. 8)here as a mutual respect +eteen us"earlier he had !isited me and also inscri+ed to me a +iology te3t hich he co*authored ith .

. &impson, my early antagonist%, +ut Pittendrigh insisted that the pro+lem of e3tinction in theanimal kingdom should not +e a part of the de+ate. - could not see ho the to parts of the

e!olutionary pro+lem = the e!olution of ne species and the e3tinction of the old = could +e

separated in a meaningful de+ate. -t appeared that the friendly relations +eteen us ere in


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Cespite his hea!y schedule "he ne!er stopped teaching crystallography%, Hess as a!aila+le for

many a demand on his time. - remem+er the case of an uneducated +ut dedicated man ho,

li!ing in $ichigan, collected many rocks, o+!iously +urned, and rote me regularly of his +eliefthat the lake as scooped out +y an asteroid impact. He mailed me, at inter!als, +o3es ith

stones. - sent some of them to a scientist at the ni!ersity of Pitts+urgh hom - kne, and

+rought some others to Hess. )he former did not anserI the latter took a fe of them toin!estigate their possi+le meteoritic nature.

Hess ascri+ed the re!ersal of the rocks/ magnetic orientation to a spontaneous process in the

minerals, as he had claimed in de+ate ith me at my occasional lectures at the geology

department. 'ut hen he finally realied that such spontaneous re!ersals could not occursimultaneously in rocks of !arious compositions, he !olunteered to tell me that he as rong.

#hen, years after my first memo of Cecem+er 5, 195, he read or heard a paper concerning the

re!ersal of the direction of inding in fossil !ines and shells from +oth southern and northern

hemispheres, he as pleased to let me kno that the claims the -B ould not in!estigate ere

confirmed +y independent research.

-n 197 - ga!e him a memorandum on radioacti!ity haards for astronauts in se!eral localied

areas of the moon and $ars, results of interplanetary discharges. Cr. Homer (eell of (A&A

sent the memo to scientists on the staff ho he thought ould +e the ones to consider the su+


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ay from uyot Hall to our respecti!e homes, he ascri+ed my record to intuition. #hen - asked

hich of my claims does not follo from my thesis, he replied, 8noises from Dupiter. He as

right, +ut only to the e3tent that - ha!e not yet pu+lished the story of the earlier cataclysms,promised in the final chapter of Worlds in Collision.

)he e!ents surrounding the first manned landing on the moon had a dramatic urgency, and they,too, need to +e recorded separately. $y to telephone con!ersations in hich - tried to o+tain

Hess/ support for thermoluminescence tests of lunar core e3tracts, as also en!isioned in myarticle in theNew York Timeson the e!ening of the first lunar manned landing, can +e read in the

correspondence.

- sa Hess once more = he as ith his secretaries and assistants, preparing for the #oodsHole meeting. He as not in a cheerful mood = that morning the nes came that hydrocar+ons

"petroleum deri!ati!es% ere disco!ered on the moon, +ut no ater yet. "(o, almost three years

later, signs of the one*time presence of ater ha!e +een detected.% He as, it appeared to me,

gloomy.

A+out half a year earlier he had suffered a heart attack. He as alays a chain smoker. )he load

of ork, the e3citement of the last fe eeks, and possi+ly a discouragement, +ut 0uite pro+a+ly

his premonition that he ould not +e a+le to itness the entire lunar program of many landings,

must ha!e eighed hea!ily on him.

On the morning of August 2, 199, - picked up a nespaper at the Princeton Dunction railay

station and sa Hess/ friendly face on a page carrying a eulogy.

)he day the uni!ersity arranged a memorial ser!ice in its chapel, - as deli!ering a lecture to the

faculty of the Ocean 4ounty 4ollege. - spoke of Hess.

On Octo+er 21, e3actly three months after the first landing on the moon, at my initiati!e, thegeophysical department "the ne name for the geology department%, together ith the 4osmos

and 4hronos &tudy roup, arranged a memorial lecture at the auditorium of uyot Hall. )he

opening part of my lecture, 8@rom &putnik to Apollo N-, as dedicated to Hess.

-n Hess/ passing - lost the only mem+er of the scientific elite ho demanded a fair treatment for

me and my ork. #hen in (o!em+er the assistant to the president of the uni!ersity came to see

me, - spoke of Hess and could not hide the tears in my eyes. @or the rest of 199 - felt depressed.

Of people ho ere prominent in their fields and ho, since the +eginning of my ork and

through the years shoed me more than casual interest and sympathy, - name o+ert Pfeiffer,orientalist and 'i+lical scholar "d. 195:%I Horace $. Eallen, philosopher and educatorI #alter &.

Adams, astronomer "d. 195%I Al+ert ?instein "d. 1955%I and Harry Hess, ho died in his si3ty*

fourth year, three years ago. Eallen alone of all of them is ali!e, ha!ing these days reached the!enera+le age of ninety, still acti!e as riter and lecturer, ith time ha!ing dimmed none of his

mental a+ilities.

)hey ere fe, +ut each of them as great as a human +eing.


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eliko!sky to Hess * Cecem+er 5, 195

Hess to eliko!sky * Danuary 2, 1957

Hul+urt to Hess * Danuary 1:, 1957

Hess to eliko!sky * $arch 15, 19

eliko!sky to Hess * &eptem+er 11, 19eliko!sky to Hess * $arch 1;, 197"$emorandum%

eliko!sky to Hess * $ay 19, 199"$emorandum%

eliko!sky to Hess * Duly 2, 199

eliko!sky to Hess * August 7, 199
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h. h. hess and my memoranda

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